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Sunday, August 08, 2010

Get it Right, Twitter AND Twitpic: Transit Police Make Arrest Thanks To Twitter

WBZ reports, Transit Police Make Arrest Thanks To Twitter:
Transit Police are crediting the use of Twitter for a recent arrested they made.

Officers arrested Lawrence Maguire, 59, of Dorcester, late Friday night after he was reportedly touching himself inappropriately on a Red Line train Wednesday night.

Nay Khun was on that train and saw Maguire.

In an effort to report the crime he took a picture of Maguire and sent a message via Twitter, a social networking site that allows messages of up to 140 characters, to the MBTA.

On Khun's account, @Nykwil, he wrote: #mbta pervert on the 2nd car of the red line going to Braintree just passed Charles help me report him in hat.

He included the picture he took.
He didn't include the picture, he included a link to the picture.

WBZ isn't the only media outlet that is leaving out the fact that twitter doesn't host photos.

I can understand how it's an easier story to tell if they just report that twitter was used to report the crime, but when you write an article online, embed the tweet in it, and then exclude the link to the photo, you're leaving out the main part of the story.

Nay Khum SHARED A PHOTO.

Why leave out the link and replace it with, "He included the picture he took."

That's not right.

He included A LINK TO the picture he took. Here it is: http://twitpic.com/2bmpnc

See:


#mbta pervert on the 2nd car of the red line going to Braintree just passed Charles help me report him in hat http://twitpic.com/2bmpncWed Aug 04 21:31:44 via Twitter for iPhone

Elsewhere:

Boston.com - MBTA aided by rider reports in arrests of two passengers:
O’Connor said a passenger near MaGuire posted a picture on Twitter that led to MaGuire.
Boston Herald - After Herald tip, MBTA turns to social media to help fight crime on trains:
“It feels good to do something good,” Khun told the Herald yesterday, adding that he did not think it would lead to an arrest so quickly. “You think to yourself, ‘This is the right thing to do.’ I hope that people see this as an example to speak up. Some people are too shy to say something or confront somebody in public. On Twitter it’s so much easier.”

That was his logic Wednesday when, instead of calling police, he posted a text alert and photo on the social networking site while riding over Longfellow Bridge.
Update:

He included the picture he took. = 32 Characters

http://twitpic.com/2bmpnc = 25 Charaters

More:

The Boston Channel -Twitter Leads To Sex Arrest:
BOSTON -- An alert rider on the Red Line used Twitter to help Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority police capture a man believed to be exposing himself to riders earlier in the week.

Lawrence Maguire
Lawrence Maguire, 59, of Dorchester was arrested Friday after MBTA officials said a rider snapped a picture of him, then sent it around the social networking site with a warning message.
7 News - Tweet leads to arrest of alleged T flasher:
Nay Khun, a rider on the T, saw the alleged crime and posted about it on his Twitter account. He also posted a picture of McGuire.
CNN - Twitter photo helps nab suspected flasher:
An alert rider of the Boston area transit system helped nab an alleged flasher by posting a photo of the suspect on Twitter, according to the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority...
Khun immediately posted to his Twitter account a photo of the man, saying "pervert on the 2nd car of the red line ... help me report him."
NECN - Twitter update sparks MBTA arrest:
The 29-year-old relayed his concern the only way he felt comfortable: through his Twitter account, linking the photo and a message to the MBTA's profile.
Someone gets it almost perfectly right:

My Fox Boston includes text referring to a link to a picture AND includes an image of the full tweet. Too bad they didn't include a clickable URL in the transcription of the tweet, then they'd have gotten the story 100% right.

My Fox Boston - MBTA perv busted thanks to Twitter:
Nay Khun spotted the act, then took to Twitter. His Tweet read: "#mbta pervert on the 2nd car of the red line going to Braintree just passed Charles help me report him in hat." It also included this link to a picture of Maguire on the T.